


Tangled

by ArcticLucie



Series: StarkBucksBingo [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Boys In Love, Developing Relationship, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:54:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25063462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcticLucie/pseuds/ArcticLucie
Summary: Bucky and Tony had agreed to no strings attached when they began their little fling, but leave it to Tony to spin some anyway.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: StarkBucksBingo [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805911
Comments: 11
Kudos: 103
Collections: StarkBucksBingo2020





	Tangled

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Tangled  
> Collaborator Name: ArcticLucie  
> Square Filled (Letter/number AND prompt): B3, Accidental Feelings  
> Ship/Main Pairing: Bucky/Tony  
> Rating: G  
> Major Tags & Triggers: love confessions  
> Summary: Bucky and Tony had agreed to no strings attached when they began their little fling, but leave it to Tony to spin some anyway.  
> Word Count: 1030

Tony hadn’t meant for it to happen. In fact, he’d spent most of his youth perfecting techniques to avoid this exact thing, so he could very well write the book on  _ not _ falling in love. Sex without strings, that’s what they’d agreed to. But maybe the super soldier serum gave Bucky super soldier pheromones. How else could he explain his descent into madness?

He’d have to run some tests.

“Don’t tell me you’re avoiding me.” Bucky’s voice cut through him as he waltzed into Tony’s workshop, and no, he did not jump at the sudden intrusion—thank you very much—but his heart did. Bucky strutted toward him, a crooked smile aimed right at him not unlike a Stark missile primed to carve another hole in his chest. And for a moment, he couldn’t breathe.

“My lasagna wasn’t that bad, was it?” Bucky asked, sidling up to give Tony a kiss that landed off center. How appropriate considering how off kilter Tony had felt since his shocking revelation.

He smiled up at Bucky who had settled between his thighs. “Just the burnt parts,” Tony teased, hands laying claim to glorious hips. He chuckled when Bucky groaned and threw his head back baiting Tony to scrap his teeth along the soft expanse of his throat. That would have Bucky groaning in an entirely different way, the kind of way that made Tony’s knees weak and his heart do that weird sputtering thing he’d had to consult Bruce about which had led to his epiphany about feelings.

Right, feelings.

He had to tell Bucky about them, if only to free them both from the inevitable disaster known as Tony Stark with feelings. No one needed to see that. Iron Man in love with the man who killed his parents? The paparazzi would have a field day. He didn’t care, though; they’d made their peace with what happened on that rainy night, and on that snowy day in Siberia. Surely, if they could get past that, they could get past anything.

But their pasts had been the reason Tony let his guard down in the first place. No way did he ever think he could fall for the Winter Soldier. So, he leaned into the pull of Bucky’s gravity, giving in when the sexual tension that had slowly built between them raged out of control. He thought he’d get it out of his system then move on. Like he’d done a thousand times before with every other person he’d shared his bed with.

He all but purred when Bucky carded a hand through his hair, fingernails dragging along his scalp and raising an army of goose bumps along the way. “Something wrong, doll? I’ve been here two whole minutes and my clothes are still on.” Bucky’s hand trailed down to rub the curve of his neck, a gentle massage meant to coax the truth out of him, the tricky bastard.

“I have strings,” Tony blurted out, knowing it wouldn’t make much sense out of context. Bucky’s confused frown had him close to changing his mind, but he forged ahead. “I found them or maybe I weaved them like a spider, I don’t know, but I have them. And I know in the beginning we agreed on no strings, but things changed and you deserved to know.”

God, he sucked so much at breakups, he sucked at relationships, hell, he sucked at people. Why was there never an alien threat when he needed one?

“Like a marionette?” Bucky asked, frown deepening and ripping a hole through Tony’s fragile, shriveled little heart.

“No... like I love you.”

“...oh.”

Tony had never made a love declaration before, so he only had what he’d seen in sappy movies as reference. They didn’t help. He didn’t know what else to say, and obviously Bucky didn’t either, so he kept his mouth shut and stared into the sea of blue he’d somehow allowed himself to get lost in without a life preserver. Though drowning would’ve been preferable to the embarrassment of getting rejected by the goddamn Winter Soldier.

“I have strings too,” Bucky finally said, breaking the silence that had stretched dangerously close to the wrong side of stifling. “Like a lot of stings, a whole bucket full.”

Tony looked at him with shock. He had not expected reciprocity. “What? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because they’re a tangled mess really. I’ve been trying to sort them out for weeks. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I hadn’t realized it until yesterday,” Tony said, still trying to wrap his head around their entire conversation. “I didn’t think you’d want me. You know my reputation. You know, probably better than anyone, what a disaster I am.”

“Yet I still sprouted strings for you, so what does that say about me? The infamous murder machine—”

“Muffin, murder muffin,” Tony corrected.

“—that hasn’t been on a date in.  _ Seventy _ .  _ Years _ .”

“Bucky, we went on a date two days ago.” Bucky’s blank stare had him cracking up. “Oh, we really are a pair, aren’t we?”

“A pair of morons.”

Tony nodded and slipped his fingers into the back pockets of Bucky’s jeans, delighted with how easy Bucky leaned into him. “A pair of marionettes.”

Bucky’s eyes darkened with a challenging smirk as he said, “Well, I do know how to make you dance.”

“And I know how to make you scream.”

Banner had assured him his heart skipping beats wouldn’t kill him, but Tony had a feeling Bucky might with the way he pounced like a fucking hellcat at that, laying siege to every ounce of Tony’s soul as he kissed the everloving shit right out of him. Tony shivered when cool, metal fingers began toying with the hair at the base of his skull, and he had no defense when Bucky plucked him from his stool and led him over to the couch.

“‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave,’” Tony rasped, the quote punctuated with an oomph when Bucky pulled him down.

“Shall we tangle ours together?”

“Too late,” he said, smiling against Bucky’s lips. “Good fucking luck untangling me now.”

“Darling, I’d never dream of it.”

And neither would Tony.


End file.
